Reuters Yonhap News
The British AstraZeneca vaccine, which the Korean government announced that it will pre-purchase 10 million people (20 million doses) and distribute it in February and March, is expected to be used for vaccination from the 4th of next month with approval within a few days. AstraZeneca completed the application process for the release of the Corona 19 vaccine to the UK health authorities on the 23rd, and expected approval immediately after Christmas. The UK reported on the 26th (local time) that “the British government will start vaccinating the corona 19 jointly developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University from the 4th of next month.” The UK government will approve the AstraZeteca vaccine within a few days, the newspaper added. According to this report, the UK government is expected to receive the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine or Pfizer vaccine in about 2 million people within the next two weeks. AstraZeneca said on November 23 that the vaccine was effective at an average of 70%, 90% of those who vaccinated half the vaccine dose at the first dose, and 62% of those who received one dose. At the time, experts questioned that it was uncommon to see higher effects in those who received less doses. However, a paper published in the international medical journal on the 8th showed that 70% of the vaccine effect published by AstraZeneca was confirmed by a number of researchers, and the effect of preventing asymptomatic infection was not small. The cost of a single dose of AstraZeneca vaccine is between $3 and $4, which is cheaper than the Pfizer ($19.5 dose) vaccine. In addition, it can be stored for 6 months at 2 to 8 degrees Celsius, which is the level of refrigerator refrigeration, so it is easier to store and distribute than Pfizer and Modena, which can be stored for 6 months at -70 degrees and 20 degrees respectively. However, there have been concerns that AstraZeneca, who was at the forefront of developing a COVID-19 vaccine, lost trust in the United States during the development process and that the approval speed was slowed. In a conference call on the 12th, Pascal Sorio, CEO of AstraZeneca, said, “We expect that AstraZeneca will be able to submit documents for vaccine approval in the United States within six weeks (end of January next year).” I expect approval within the year.” By Jeon Jeong-yoon and Choi Hyun-jun, staff reporters [email protected]